The invention relates to apparatus for controlling adjustment units and, in particular for controlling several such adjustment units.
In particular the invention concerns apparatus for controlling adjusting members and setting adjustment units in motor vehicles. Illustratively such adjustment units are flaps, sliders or valves of for many diverse kinds, illustratively car air conditioners, locks of all sorts, for instance a central locking system, or adjustment mechanisms such as headlight beam controls or seat adjustments.
Adjustment units of this sort are typically controlled and operated either pneumatically or electrically in motor vehicles.
Electric-motor driven apparatus for control and adjustment require an expensive set of components and tend to drain the electric power supply of the motor vehicle.
Pneumatically controlling and adjusting apparatus are more economical than those driven by electric motors and operate quietly and reliably. Additionally, pneumatic systems do not drain the motor vehicle power supply. However, the complex pneumatic line system entails substantial assembly work, and as a rule such apparatus can assume only two positions of the adjusting members.
The state of this art also includes a known locking system combining electric and pneumatic control-and-adjustment wherein the individual adjusting members are each fitted with electrically driven pumps which upon actuation generate the required adjustment pressure to the adjusting members. While such a design may save the assembly labor required for the pneumatic line system, it does not reduce costs or operational noise.
In the light of this state of the art, it is the object of the present invention to create an apparatus for controlling and adjusting at least one and preferably several adjusting members, particularly for motor vehicles, said apparatus being compact and demanding only little assembly work and making possible also intermediate positions using pneumatic drive means.